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Last week, we launched the first ever DLC on GOG.com (for tactical-strategy game Omerta: City of Gangsters). The launch was a bit rushed on our end, and we did a bad job communicating what it was, and why we're adding it to the store. That was a screw-up on our part, and we're sorry. We've read all of your comments (and there were a lot!) and it's lead us to wonder about DLC and other new models of gaming that are happening right now. There's a survey at the bottom of this newspost, where we'd like to hear more about what you think GOG.com should do in the future, but don't jump down there just yet.

First, we wanted to explain the reasoning behind offering DLC for sale. It boils down to this: the number of newer games that have DLC keeps growing every year. As publishers and developers look at ways to remain profitable--look at how many big studios have gone bankrupt in the last 3 years if you think that's not a challenge--they're exploring new things like DLC, episodic content, and so on. GOG.com loves games, and we're committed to bringing the best games in history--classic or new--here to the site for you to enjoy. To sign some of these newer titles, however, we need to make a decision: do we sell DLC for these newer games, or do we not offer DLC and, increasingly, find that what we sell doesn't contain all of the content available for the game, content that hardcore fans of the game will probably enjoy?

We thought about it and decided that the best thing for us to do was to offer you the freedom to choose. We don't like telling you what to do with your games, whether it's how you want to back it up or how often you want to reinstall it, and it felt like refusing to sell DLC for new games was another instance where we were limiting your freedom. In our minds, if you don't like DLC, you're free to ignore it; if it represents a good value to price to you, then, you're free to buy it here--DRM-free, of course--from GOG.com.

For classic games, our goal always remains to bring you the definitive version of the game--with all expansion packs--at one price. Sometimes, for one reason or another, we don't get the expansion packs. At least, not right away (::coughcoughSidMeier'sAlienCrossfirecough::), but the goal remains that way and it won't change.

New games are different, though. Classic games aren't being actively developed, and they aren't being updated with new paid content, so it's easy to negotiate a single fixed price. For new games, that's not the case, and we can't promise a fixed price for all of the expanded content ever for a new game. We will try to get you all of the DLC that we can for free, but let's be realistic: developers release paid DLC because they want more money. Offering it for free is not always in the cards. Offering it for free 6 months, a year, or 18 months after the launch? That's more likely to be possible, and it's certainly something that we would love to be able to do for all of our games. We can't promise anything, but that's another goal for us.

So, as we mentioned above, we didn't do a very good job letting you guys know about this ahead of time, and as such your response was--unsurprisingly--pretty strong. To help determine what you want us to do in the future, we've prepared a short survey for you about DLC, episodic content, and other possible new areas of gaming that GOG.com might venture into offering you. Please take a moment and answer the survey, and leave us a comment below. We'll pick 10 winners who comment below and give them any game from the catalog--even Omerta and its DLC, if you like. :)

tl;dr version: We're sorry about how we communicated to you during DLC launch. We hope you'll give us feedback on what new things GOG.com might start selling in the future.

The survey is now closed. Thanks for your time and your insights, everyone. We'll take a close look at the outcome. This will surely help us in making GOG.com an even better service custom-tailored to its users tastes and expectations. Again, thanks for your opinions!

As promised, we'll pick 10 posts from the comment thread and give their authors a game of their choice. We'll PM you to ask you what would you like to get.

keeveek: I hope the results of this survey will not marginallize gog on a DD market.

Adzeth: They don't need to release the results, and they can interpret any non-zero results as "wanted enough" :D

I would say anything that doen't have a strong majority is something that I'd rather not get into. So you can figure for yourselves: if any of these ideas show up on the site it probably has over 66% in favor. :)

TheEnigmaticT: I would say anything that doen't have a strong majority is something that I'd rather not get into. So you can figure for yourselves: if any of these ideas show up on the site it probably has over 66% in favor. :)

Tpiom: Or you faked the results and showed it to the other devs? :p

You raise a good point. As the only person with access to the survey results, I decide what happens. Bwaahahahahaha!

dirtyharry50: Since I had not been offered a survey and saw no survey at the bottom of the first page I clicked the link in the post and completed it. However, it did not ask me for any contact info so how could you consider me for one of the 10 free games if you have no idea who completed the survey, at least in my case?

"We'll pick 10 winners who comment below and give them any game from the catalog--even Omerta and its DLC, if you like. :) "

Isaris: I'm sorry I didn't point to it in context, but there are two examples made in Neverwinter Nights and Far Cry. Serial keys are a form of DRM, especially if I have to expressly ask, and wait, for one. Any game that asks for validation and prevents me from playing after I bought it, is DRM protected. Granted, only some aspects, usually multiplayer, is protected this way, and I understand the promlematic nature of NWN-titles and a deal with a dev that won't touch the code again. But there are still a good handful of games on GOG that have DRM in them - however innocent. I have not tried Torchlight 2 yet, but I imagine multiplayer to be bound by some account-shenanigans, so if it's brought to GOG that has to go in my opinion. I'm not faulting you for wanting to offer great titles, and not being able to completely remove DRM. But I want you to be ever vigilant as the slope is slippery and a large portion of your fanbase loves you for the DRM-free policy alone.

I understand now; since we've been offering games with multiplayer serial keys for about as long as you've been a member, I didn't understand why you said it had been happening "frequently as of late."

Barefoot_Monkey: I'm kinda on-the-fence - some options I don't want to demand or prohibit. Is it possible to add a third option to the survey for questions where we don't want to answer "yes" or "no" so that the survey results better represent those who do have a strong opinion one way or the other?

I can say that I do thing season passes sound like good idea.

At this point? It would do terrible, terrible things to our data.

Besides, forcing a "yes" or "no" makes these things kind of unequivocal. I designed this one as a binary choice on purpose. I coulda done a Likert scale, but didn't want to.

xbeanx3000: No, no, no! You're not understanding the main issue people had! It wasn't because you 'offered' DLC that caused a problem, why would anyone have issues with more 'options'? The problem was... PRICE! Don't you get it?! Most people thought the DLC was worth only $0.25 not $4.99!

Offer DLC by all means but be realistic with the price! Horse armour isn't worth $4.99 for example!

We don't set price or determine the content that goes in DLC: we either agree to sell a game's DLC or we don't. ;)

The survey is now closed. Thanks for your time and your insights, everyone. We'll take a close look at the outcome. This will surely help us in making GOG.com an even better service custom-tailored to its users tastes and expectations. Again, thanks for your opinions!

As promised, we'll pick 10 posts from the comment thread and give their authors a game of their choice. We'll PM you to ask you what would you like to get.